Foundationless from the bottom up.

[biggraham610]

Anyone had that happen? I'm guessing yes. I started running some foundationless in my hives last year. I like it and am planning on running alot more. I put two supers on my only 2 hives I expect to make surplus, splits on the rest. Them too after the flow, anyhow, One colony filled the frames beautifully, in fact I need to add another box tomorrow because the first is 80% full, The second, a little slower to get rolling on it. I peeked this morning and saw a few combs being built from the bottom bars up, wouldnt have bothered me but they were spanning a couple frames each. By the time I got into the box to fix it this evening, there was alot more built. I just cut it from the bottoms, and stuck it to the guide on the top the best I could. I am assuming that the bees will get the message. If i hadnt caught that, in this flow, in a few days, that would have been a mess. Would have had no choice but to crush and strain, and would rather extract to save the comb this year. Anyone have insight on if it should get the bees drawing right, or do I need to keep a vigilant eye on them? Thanks.... G

[Rurification]

Yes, sometimes my bees do that.    I try to put a frame already drawn in the super as a guide.  Sometimes that helps.   Sometimes the bees have different ideas.   I've only been keeping bees for a few years - there will be others here with a lot more experience who will have better advice.

[OldMech]

Yep, same here. I usually do exactly as you have done.. cut it out and rewax it in place where it should be. Rubber band etc works too.
   Out of 50 ish hives I have one or two that tries to build from the bottom up..  this happens more often when i have a LOT of foundation-less frames in one place. Give them a place to crawl up without going all the way around and they usually build top down.
   Put a drawn frame, or even a frame with new foundation in the middle that they can climb up to get to the top easier.

[Michael Bush]

>Anyone had that happen?

Yes.  Add the second box to the bottom.  Add the third to the top but bring up a fully drawn comb and put it in the middle of the box of foundationless for a "ladder".

[biggraham610]

Thanks yall for the tips. G

[biggraham610]

Got back in the hive today finally, hay season-had to beat the threat of rain. the bees were working from the top down on some of the comb I moved up, however they were still drawing from the bottom up on  most frames, some had met in the middle, was only one piece across 2 frames , so, I just moved it to one frame and left it on the bottom, and added a couple frames of drawn comb as ladders between the most questionable areas. I'm hoping with the guide, they will keep them straight and meet in the middle like they did on a couple frames. Thanks for the tips. G